Turns out making videos is hard. Who knew?
(You did, @dungeondive. You absolutely did.)
In what may be the most ambitious “I’ll just learn it as I go” project since someone lit a torch and walked into a tomb, I’ve been teaching myself how to make videos - so I could show off Ziggurat’s latest shape without subjecting potential fans to a wall of patch notes.
The result is a setup tutorial and a full “teach ‘n’ play” of the Monolith tutorial quest, starring Vixen the Wildwood Wanderer, some questionable tactical choices, and suspiciously sentient shrubbery.
If you’re curious about how the game plays these days - or just want to see what happens when a wannabe board game designer points a camera at their own creation - here’s what I’ve put together:
It’s all still a work in progress - Ziggurat continues to mutate - but these should give you a good sense of where it’s at now. Feedback, questions, and knowing looks from experienced content creators all welcome.
I wish I had more time to watch the videos. What is the biggest obstacle for completing the game for you? I feel like I’ve been watching you work on it from a distance for a few years now.
The moment I declared myself “close,” the finish line retreated into the mist.
I’ve become entangled in another start-up of late, which has been greedily consuming my daylight hours. Still, the Ziggurat advances - not swiftly, but with a slow inevitability.
For those curious about graphic design tweaks, component shifts, and the general alchemy of game development, I’ve been conducting those discussions openly with my long-suffering and talented graphic designer over on the Fullasagoog forum:
This wasn’t part of some grand transparency strategy - it just proved more efficient than endless email threads. The conversations are candid, occasionally chaotic, and sprinkled with spoilers. I may prune them later, so wander through while the doors remain ajar.
Enter at your own peril
Did I say “sprinkled with spoilers”? I should have said spoilers abound, they are everywhere.. you will be spoiled. That is all.
Am stuck choosing a colour for the “Backtrack” token. It needs to stand out on the map tile so you don’t forget to check for wandering monsters on your return.
(I would have voted for yellow – and did, initially – except it seems that’s the “base” color for all tokens? If so, and if the backtracking token is meant to be differentiated and pop-out against a sea of yellow tokens, then I say pink.)
Thanks for the feedback – i’m in exactly the same boat.
We’ve settled on a yellow/red palette in hexagons for all map tile tokens. But these “exploration” tokens if you like are more permanent features of the map; a barrier, a point of interest, etc. Whereas the “Backtrack” token is more like an event; if you move back to that map tile you must perform a backtrack action (a bit like a roll for wandering monsters).
So I think I’ve settled on PINK too – something that stands out on the tile.
Amber and red convey warning and danger to me, so I wouldn’t use if that isn’t always the case with the back track encounter. And the yellow blends too much into the jungle. Out of the other two, purple text on pink background is easiest to read
